San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice, Fondazione Cini

Our Yearly Meeting is coming up fast! Here you can find all the information you need regarding our Agenda and Speaker Program. The accomodations on the island are now fully-booked but everyone is still welcome to attend the meeting with Lecture Serie.

The second edition of Käthe Klappenbuch’s Inventory Catalogue, covering chandeliers from the collections of the Preussische Schlösser und Gärten, dating from the 17th to the 20th C., of brass, gilded bronze, zinc, porcelain, wood, antlers, amber and glass is available to purchase via the link to the publisher below from the 30th of April 2019.

John P. Smith and Allard de Graf in the Mayor’s Residence, Prague April 2018

We have just received the sad news that our member, John P. Smith passed away last week in London, England. In spite of battling cancer, he attended our Yearly Meeting last year in Prague because as he said, “there is no point in sitting around feeling sorry for myself”. John was a great asset to both the world of glass and chandeliers. In addition to being a founding member of our organization, he was a Fellow of Corning since 2000, where he supported both their glass and library collection, a vetter at the TEFAF antique shows in Maastricht, Holland, the chairman of The Glass Circle publication, director of glass at Mallet & Sons, and the author of books and publications on English glass and lighting. Actually, to say he was an ‘author’ is not enough – in other publications on glass and chandeliers, he is frequently mentioned as a source of information and many thanks are owed to him for sharing the knowledge he had gained through more than 50 years of study in the field.

He had already registered his intention to attend our meeting this year in Venice and he will be sorely missed. As one of the only other members with English heritage, I always made a point of spending as much time as possible with John at our meetings. In what little time that we had, he managed to impart some of his knowledge and passion for glass and chandeliers to me, and I was honoured to have had his attention. As they would say in England, “He was a scholar and a gentleman”.

At the next Fellows Meeting in Corning in May, they plan to make a memorial presentation about John. If anyone has images that they would like to share, they are invited to forward them. I will forward the photo shown here of John with Allard de Graf, sitting in the Mayor’s residence in Prague and taken last April during our meeting.

EUROPEAN SOCIETY „LIGHT & GLASS“ study-funds Venice 2019

Dear Members and Friends of Light & Glass,

As a part of the preparations for our Yearly Meeting in Venice in September 26th – 29th of this year, it has been decided that our organization, in collaboration with the Fondazione Cini, will fund a research project which is intended to give one student the opportunity to do some intensive research on the subject of Murano glass in respect to the history, present and future of the chandelier/lighting field.

Our aim at this meeting is of course to recognize the very important contributions of Italy and the Italians to the history of chandeliers and lighting. In spite of this honourable history, there has also been little research done in the field of Venetian chandeliers – there are a number of books available that inform one about various Murano art glass, but very little in these books applies to lighting.

As we state on our Website;

“LIGHT and GLASS in accordance to its statutes, is the platform for research for high quality lighting and chandeliers, a subject that has been greatly neglected to date.”

In an effort to move forward with this goal, we want to encourage more research in the field and the best way to start, is with enthusiastic young students. As we, as an organization, do not have the necessary funds in the treasury to fund this project ourselves, we must ask for your and/or your associates assistance in making this project become a reality. Small contributions are also welcome!

We would also at this point like to encourage our members to invite their associates to join us, and our friends to please become “Official Members”. In this way, we will be able make possible the support of students in their studies of historical lighting from our own funds, without having to ask individuals to step up and make donations.

Time is of the essence, in order to allow our chosen student, the full 6 Months of study time before our Conference in September, we need to gather the necessary funds as soon as possible. A letter from our member, Peter Rath, introducing the study project is attached here also in PDF Form, in order that you can share it easily with your associates.

Since the 17th December 2017, on the Website “Museum Digital” one can view chandeliers as well as Brandenburg Glass from the collection of the Brandenburg Schlösser. There are also glass collections from the Potsdam Museum – Forum für Kunst und Geschichte, the Glasmuseum Hentrich in Düsseldorf, the City museum Berlin as well as the Art Museum Moritzburg in Halle (Saale).

Light & Glass is very honoured to be able to announce that we have been invited to hold our next Yearly Meeting & Annual Assembly from 26th – 29th September 2019 in Venice on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore (across from the Piazza San Marco) at The Fondazione Giorgio Cini Vittore Branca International Centre for the Study of Italian Culture.

The main theme of our meeting will therefore be: “The Venetian Chandelier, its roots, its development and future – where did it originate?”

We will be inviting members and guests to lecture primarily on this theme and others in relation to it. Our aim at this meeting is of course to recognize the very important contributions of Italy and the Italians to the history of chandeliers and lighting. Venetian (Murano) chandeliers have been sought after as a finishing touch to room furnishings for a number of centuries and have therefore influenced lighting and glass producers around the world.

In addition to our lecture series and a tour of the Fondazione, it is planned that we will make an excursion to see some original Venetian chandeliers and visit a glass blower on the island of Murano. Due to the complications of transport with a larger group from island to island, we have to restrict this to one morning. It is difficult in such a location, but our meeting is not intended as a ‘tourist’ attraction and therefore we must focus on the main purpose of our gathering. We will recommend visits to various attractions for those people that have the time to take in a few more sights – for example, on Sunday morning.

The Fondazione Cini has a large library on art and Italian culture but to this date, documentation on Italian chandeliers/lighting objects is an area that has not been covered by their collection. We at L&G would like to see that change and therefore if anyone has access to documentation that they could share/donate to the Foundation, this would be much appreciated. In this way L&G can continue to increase the awareness of the cultural importance of historical lighting pieces.

The Fondazione has also offered our group accommodation in The Vittore Branca Centre which welcomes university students, professors, scholars and artists willing to pursue research work in the Fondazione collections and archives​.​ It is located in the park of the island: it is a newly renovated space, featuring single and double rooms fully equipped with a small kitchen. Rooms can be reserved at the cost of 55,00 Eu per night for the single and 85,00 Eu for doubles, without breakfast. As there are only a total of 30 rooms (20 doubles, 10 singles), the accommodation on the island will be offered to L&G members only in the first registrations. Colleagues and other guests will be accepted if space allows in the second wave of registrations. People may therefore be requested to share a room. Anyone is of course welcome to attend the meeting when they make their own arrangements.

A detailed plan of the activities will be published in the New Year as well as more details regarding travel etc. Applications for attendance and lectures can already be registered with the following addresses:

The Palazzos Reale di Torino (Royal Palace of Turin) in the city centre and the Palazzina di Caccia Stupinigi 10 km. to the south, were once seat to the powerful Dukes of Savoy and are both in possession of great riches in their collections of chandeliers and other historical lighting pieces. We visited these palaces during the summer and were so impressed with the collections that we wanted to share a little information about them with our members. Turin is indeed a city worth visiting when one appreciates historical lighting. Read more…

In the summer of 2017, during the restoration of the historical palace of the noble Pac family on Didžioji Street in Vilnius, fragments of a papier mâché [1] chandelier that once hung in the palace were found. New material collected for the theoretical reconstruction of this artefact has prompted the author to write about rare chandeliers made from this material and found in Lithuania that have not yet received research attention.

Papier Maché Fragments

Due to the lack of available data on the existence of pulped paper (so called papier mâché) chandeliers in Lithuania, chandeliers made from this material were not analysed. Read more…

Also during the summer season 2018, the Sasso San Gottardo Museum showed the exhibition about Rock Crystal. Thanks to the very trustful cooperation with Karel Kanak and the Association “LIGHT and GLASS – European Society and Documentation Centre for Chandeliers, Light and Lighting”, four astonishing chandeliers, made of made of pure rock crystals and dated to the 19st century, were on loan to the Museum. Since 2017 when we’ve shown Mr. Kanak’s chandeliers for the first time, visitors from Switzerland and from abroad were marveled by the unique ambiance in the wonder chamber with its beautiful Chandeliers. The Museum remains open till 14 October 2018. Mr. Kanak from Wasa Antik Stockholm agreed generously to enable the prolongment of this particular exhibition also in 2019. The rock crystal chandeliers can therefore be visited again from June-October 2019 at the Sasso San Gottardo Museum.

Below please find the Report from our General Assembly in Prague & Pilsen from 26th – 29th April. There are three parts to this report: Activities, Lectures and the General Assembly Protocol.

Activities Report – Yearly Meeting Prague/Pilsen ToursThursday 26th April in the morning we gather at the entrance of the UPM and meet Mrs. Koenigsmarkova for a tour of the nearby Lord Mayor’s Residence (Rezidence Primatora). Read more…

Lecture Series Prague / PilsenReport from the desk of Peter RathLecture 1:Helena Braunova, director of the Kamenicky Senov Glass Museum’s first text version of the report “The Chandeliers of the Palme Family in Kamenicky Senov” is read aloud by Dr. Koenigsmarkova. Read more…

During my research on Chandeliers in the Evangelic-Lutheran village churches in Oberlausitz, I came across a very old example. The brass chandelier does not hang in a church, but in a former so-called “Kantorei” (a place used for singing church hymns) in Waltersdorf, a small village close to Großschönau in Oberlausitz (Abb. 1).

It is a relatively small, unimpressive brass chandelier with 6 candles. It resembles none of 38 chandeliers that I have examined to date between Zittau and Löbau. As its crown, this chandelier has a “wild man” that holds a sword in his right hand and in the left, a shield. (Abb2) On the shield the year 1576 is engraved, unter this the Initials M H and a mark similar to a cross, or perhaps two E’s back-to-back. These could be perhaps the initials of the metal foundry that produced the lamp. Perhaps the name or the mark could be found in the list of the Nuremberg or Lübeck Foundries? The lamp finial in the form of a lion mask, which is probably unique in churches throughout the Oberlausitz. (Abb. 3)

Erdmute Beate Mascher describes similar brass lamps in her dissertation from 2004 on Northern German Church Chandeliers. They are also described there as angled-arm crowns and were also created at the end of the 16th century (see figures 85 and 86 in dissertation). The history of this chandelier is also interesting, Sauppe describes (in his book) that it was originally hung in the City Hall of Zittau and in 1657 was gifted to the church by the City Council, probably after the expansion of the church.

Gurlitt writes in 1906 that a similar chandelier with the same marks hung in the church of German-Ossig near Görlitz. Although this church had to give way to lignite mines, it was rebuilt in 1992 in Königshufen near Görlitz, but the brass chandelier is no longer there.

Brass Chandelier from 1738

The second brass chandelier of the church of Waltersdorf is also a rarity under the church chandeliers of southern Oberlausitz (Abb. 4). Donated in 1738 by the Zittau councilor Hornicke it features 8 + 8 candles in two levels and has never been electrified. The s-shaped candle arms are hung in the massive brass shaft, between them are ornamental arms. The upper level was adorned with small cat’s heads (?). Tubular spouts sit on the simple round drip plates. It is also strange that the drip plates are not centered on the candle arms but sit laterally. A special feature of this chandelier is its crown. Jupiter is sitting straddling the small upper ball with an eagle on his head (Abb. 5). This arrangement is probably unique. Figures of Jupiter and an eagle are known from some northern German churches (noble monastery Preetz [see Abb. 6], St. Bartholomew in Wilster, Christ Church in Rendsburg). In all cases Jupiter sits on the eagle. It is to be assumed therefore, that in one of the earlier maintenance undertakings of the chandelier, the two figures were reversed and the eagle accidentally landed on the head of Jupiter.

A New Publication about the restoration of the unique collection of Art Nouveau chandeliers in Hünegg Castle (Hilterfingen / Switzerland)

Foto: Schloss Hünegg, Sophie Schüpbach

The Foundation Schloss Hünegg in Switzerland has just published a booklet to commemorate the restoration of the 54 Art Nouveau lamps that have decorated the Schloss rooms and lit them with electric light for about 118 years. This unique collection of lighting fixtures has been extensively restored in the last three years within the boundaries of a larger project. In the 67 pages of this limited edition (250 copies) publication, the most important lamps in the representative rooms are briefly described and illustrated. There also notes on the restoration, such as the pearl fringes and trimmings on the lampshades. The plans from the interior decorating company demonstrate that the decoration of the rooms was planned around 1900 as a whole – including the furniture and the lighting objects as part of a unit. The conclusion of this informative book is an inventory of the restored objects with some technical details and photos of the not yet restored lamps. This publication is available through: Stiftung Schloss Hünegg, Staatsstrasse 52, CH-3652 Hilterfingen / info@schlosshuenegg.ch. A visit to this Schloss on Lake Thun is also to be recommended: ( http://www.schlosshuenegg.ch/museum-2/dauerausstellung/ ), where in addition to the excellently preserved interior with the remarkable Art Nouveau lamps, technical details of the historic electrification are also presented in a showcase detailing the restoration of the lighting objects.

The first link above is for a newspaper article about the research our colleagues, Annette Jacob and Thomas Hinz from “Historische Leuchten Jacob” in Leipzig, undertook in order to reconstruct the lighting pieces from the lesser ballroom in the Dresden Schloss. All were destroyed in WWII, leaving only three badly damaged candelabras from the fireplace to serve as an example for the other pieces. A great deal of research was required to carry out this project, considered to be the largest of its kind. Please use an Internet translator to translate the entire article and check out all of the links in the article for more information and photos.

The second link above is for a television interview, also in German but with more visuals on the project. Please see the report between 18:47 – 21:57.

If you ask a lay person; “How long have we had electrical lighting?” they would probably guess perhaps 1870 or so? The reality is that the average citizen did not benefit from electric lighting until much later. Therefore the year 1918 was not just the eve of a new post-war era, but also the beginning of a new age of light. Today, electricity and electric light are such an accepted part of our daily life that it is difficult to believe that only one century ago, things were very different. Since the World Exposition in Paris in 1881, where Edison first demonstrated his invention of the lightbulb, it has spread very quickly but still not to all corners of the earth.

In rural areas one was at first almost completely dependent on small Power Stations. It was argued that the costs were not worthwhile merely to light the milking can for the maid. Therefore, in the beginning, only larger cities and tourist areas had electrical lighting. As the 1st World War began in 1914, only 6% of the residences in Berlin were connected to the mains electricity supply. [1]

In the early days, the distribution of the power grid was very limited, electricity had to be generated immediately where it was needed and these small power plants were mostly run privately. A private customer had to bear the cost of the cable laying himself, the kilowatt price was high and also an ordinary light bulb in 1910 cost about 8 euros each.
The costs were constantly improving and the war was promoting the spread. In a 1915 newspaper ad the war effort tried to convince the farmers with: “The lack of manpower and horses caused by the war convincingly points to the use of electricity in the farms …… [2] Life in agricultural areas had now also been greatly changed by the war. The government also had to make changes and created a new department:
“In order to ensure the supply of electricity to Germany in accordance with the greatly increased demand, by order of the war department at the war commodities department in February 1917 an electricity section was established and in connection with it the electricity industry office” [3]

In 1918, electricity was nothing new, but it was still not found everywhere. There was a lot of competition to electrical lighting (e.g. petroleum and gas lighting) and much new infrastructure was needed, it was still too expensive for the average citizen. If it had not been for the circumstances surrounding WWI, it could have taken far longer for the impulse that brought electricity to almost all European homes. In 1918 the electrification of Europe was by no means complete, but the triumph of electricity and electrical lighting over other means was well underway. Electricity could be generated inland and the raw materials did not have to be imported – this was of great advantage in years where the borders kept closing due to conflicts.

The railways in Germany, Austria and Switzerland were electrified in the years during and after WWI, which meant that the power grid was greatly expanded. In addition, the many small power supply companies were unified and/or nationalized to more uniform operations. It was firmly denied that this step was necessary, but to reduce costs of power supply, more houses needed to be connected and in order to attract more customers, the price had to go down. A vicious circle that could only be solved by a larger operation or the state.

In England the situation was similar: “Although electric lighting in the 1880’s offered distinct advantages over other forms of lighting …., it did not begin to provide illumination superior to that of oil lamps or incandescent gas lighting until the early years of the twentieth century. The industry was slow to develop; electric lighting only made inroads into middle-class homes after 1900 when improved technology and larger electricity supply stations made it cheaper. In 1902 Preece (Sir William Preece, electrician to the Post Office) envisaged that electricity would soon become ‘the poor man’s light’ but this did not become a reality until the first stage of the National Grid became operational in 1934, more than fifty years after electric lighting had first been introduced into the home.”[4]

Whereas only a few percent of homes had electricity in 1914, by the time WWII was history in 1948, this had increased to 85% in Britain and was no longer a luxury. The market responded to the spread of electric light and expanded the choice of products accordingly.

The electrification of the world is however still not complete, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), there are more than 1.4 Billion people that have no access to electricity, mostly south of the Sahara and in Asia. These areas will perhaps find a solution in a new era of light and lighting.

In Prague and Pilsen, we will be visiting various examples of interior furnishings that stem from the time of Historicism, through Art Nouveau and on to Art Deco. Some of our lecturers will also assist us in widening our understanding of the era of electrical lighting.

Restoration of Chandeliers

Mrs. Ingrid Stricker, restorer of arts and crafts at the Bavarian Administration of State Castles, Gardens and Lakes has kindly given us the permission to re-publish here an article regarding the restoration of chandeliers. This article appeared in its original form in “Restaurator im Handwerk, Die Fachzeitschrift für Restaurierungspraxis” (Applied Arts Restorer, The Trade Journal for Restoration) Issue 4/2017. The English version is a translation of the original, for the original German text and all the graphics, please see the German version in link above (lesen sie weiter).

“The German word «Lüster» (eng. Chandelier) is used in reference to a historic lighting fixture made of glass or with glass decoration, and is derived from the French word “lustre” = brilliant. This term was coined at the court of King Louis XIV, around 1700, as high-quality decorative pieces as well as everyday objects were introduced.” Read more here…

Dr. Bettina Levin has kindly allowed us to publish the text from an article which originally appeared in the “Erzgebirgische Heimatblätter”. In this article one can read about the history of the production of beaded glass fringes made in the Ore Mountains for the lighting industry.

Please click on the links to find the article in English or the original German.

NEW RELEASE:

Chandeliers in Lutheran village churches of the south-eastern Oberlausitz, Germany, from Harald Skala. An article from author Harald Skala who lives in Oberkunnersdorf in Oberlausitz, Germany was already announced in March 2016 www.lightandglass.eu/2016/berichte-articles/kronleuchter-in-kirchen-der-oberlausitz His research on this subject has now been published in book form under the title “Es werde Licht!” (Let There be Light!)

The author researched the chandeliers hanging in 27 churches and traced their origins. Brief descriptions of the history of the respective churches accompany the detailed depictions of the existing chandeliers. The research and investigations of Harald Skala brought up exciting details, including names of manufacturers and donors as well as accurate dates. All the crowns, the churches in which they are hung, as well as related documents are shown.The extraordinary thing about this work is that almost all chandeliers were dated by means of the existing documents and inscriptions, so that this work is highly recommended to all those who deal with hanging chandeliers as a source of reference.

Review from Dr. Käthe Klappenbach, translation C.P.

*Note: the website from the publisher only gives Germany as possible delivery address. Please write an e-mail directly to the publisher for delivery in other countries.

“Mathieu Lustrerie to showcase exquisite light pieces that go back 500 years

Get a crash course in the glowing history of chandeliers—from medieval to modern times—at the 8th edition of AD Intérieurs in Paris, this month.”

From the museum collection of Mathieu Lustrerie 60 objects will be showcased at the 8th edition of AD Intérieurs, to be hosted at the Monnaie de Paris from the 6th – 20th September, where 10 decorators will showcase works of art, precious objects and curiosities.

for more information, including a tour of the exhibition on the Mathieu Lustrerie website please see:

On show at the Glass exhibition are early products from Brandenburg glass huts as well as from the Potsdamer Hütte including almost 110 exhibits from 23 institutional and private lenders as well as the in-house collection.

“When Elector Friedrich Wilhelm in 1674 founded a glassworks in Drewitz, near Potsdam, more than just economic calculus was behind this. From today’s perspective it seems natural to create a Glass hut in the richly wooded setting of the second royal residence, instead of transporting objects all the way from Berlin. Primarily, however, the foundation was part of the idea of ​​electors, to make the “Eyland (Island) into a Paradise”. This project moved to incorporate all areas of court life, and this included a well-functioning glass production near the city.” read more using Google Translate;